Freezing evaporator



April 1942- w. KLEINOW 2,279,049

FREEZING EVAPORATOR 7 Filed Sept. 5, 1940 Inventor Walter K leinow,

by 7 His A torney aten'ted Apr. 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT FREEZING EVAPORATOR Walter Kleinow, Hennigsdorf, Kreis Osthavelland, Germany, assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application September 1940,-Serial No. 355,539

In Germany October 31, 1939 3 Claims. (Cl. 62-126) air over the surface of the evaporator and, fur

thermore, takes up a substantial portion of the available space. Household refrigerators may be provided with evaporators having only vertical walls which do not impede the circulation of air and are effective to provide eflicient cooling of the food compartment. These evaporators, however,

do not provide a support for freezing trays.

It is an object of my invention to provide a refrigeration evaporator having a substantially vertical freezing and air-cooling wall and an improved arrangement for retaining a freezing tray in close thermal contact with the vertical freezing wall.

For a better understanding of my invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which Figs. 1 and v2 are front and side views, respectively, partly in section, of a household refrigerator provided with an evaporator embodying my invention; Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the evaporator shown in Figs. 1 and 2; and Fig. 4 is an enlarged end view of a portion of the evaporator of Fig. 1 showing the arrangement of the freezing trays.

The evaporator illustrated on the drawing comprises generally a sheet-metal structure providing a single substantially vertical wall having formed therein a plurality of refrigerant-circulating passages and a gas-separating header.

The evaporator is arranged near the center of the food compartment so that there may be a circulation of air downwardly along both sides of the evaporator, which provides efficient coolingof the cabinet air. In order to freeze water and other fluids to provide ice and frozen' desserts, one or more freezing trays are employed Referring now to the drawing, in Figs. 1 and 2 I have shown a thermally insulated refrigerator cabinet l0 having a food storage compartment ll cooled by an evaporator or cooling unit l2 arranged in the central portion thereof. The evaporator comprises a single vertical air-cooling and freezing surface arranged so that air may circulate downwardly over both sides thereof. Vaporized refrigerant is withdrawn from the evaporator through a suction line l3 and is compressed by operation of a motor-driven compressor within a casing i l; the casing is mounted on top of the cabinet and is provided with a plurality of heat-radiating fins Hi. The compressedrefrigerant is discharged into a condenser l6 where it is cooled and liquefied and flows to a float-valve chamber or liquid receiver ll. The liquid refrigerant is returned to the evaporator through a liquid line l8' upon operation of a float actuated valve or other suitable flow-controlling mechanism in the receiver ll.

Within the food compartment I I, there are arranged a plurality of shelves l9 which extend,

outwardly from the walls and terminate short of the side walls of the evaporator l2 in order to provide unobstructed air paths on both sides of which are constructed with connectors arranged to engage complementary connectors on the evaporator and to retain the trays in close timermal contactwith the vertical freezing wall of the evaporator. When the trays are removed, the free circulation of air verticallyalong the evaporator wall is unimpeded.

the evaporator. A shelf 20 extends across the compartment I I below the evaporator and a suitablepan 2| may be supported on the shelf 20 to collect the moisture condensed on the evaporator l2 and which is melted during the defrosting operation.

In order to form ice in the cabinet, I provide one or more freezing trays 22 secured in close thermal contact with the vertical freezing wall of the evaporator l2 by means of. suitable interengaging connectors; the connectors illustrated comprise hooks 23 secured to the ends of the trays=22 and lugs or pins 24 secured to the evaporator i2 near the ends-of the trays. The construction and arrangement of the freezing trays are more clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4 As shown in Fig. 3, the evaporator comprises two metal sheets 25 and 26 provided with complementary corrugations forming a header 2'! and a plurality of depending refrigerant-circulating passages 28 communicating with the header through upper and lower manifolds 29 and 30 and end connections or conduits 3!. The sheets 25 and 26 are welded together around their edges and between the corrugations, and the sheet 26 is folded or turned over the sheet 25 at its ends as indicated at 32. The lugsor pins 24 are welded or otherwise suitably secured to the edges of the portions '35 of the pins 24 evaporator adjacent the folded portion 32 of the the centers of gravity of the'trays 22 and the trays tend to rotate about the connecting points and press the side walls of the trays against the sides of the evaporator wall, thereby assuring good thermal contact between the trays and the evaporator.

When waterhas beenplaced in the trays 22 and frozen by operation of the refrigerating machine, there-will normally be a frozen bond between the tray and the evaporator due to the accumulation of condensed moisture, and this bond must be broken before the trays can be removed readily from their supports. I therefore .construct the lower edge of each tray 22 so that the wall of the tray is spaced from the evaporator wall as indicated at 31. This leaves a recess within which may be inserted the point of a tool or lever 38 as indicated at 39. When the tool 38 is pressed downwardly, as indicated by the arrow, any frozen bond between the tray 22 and-the wall of the evaporator i2 will be broken. The tray can then be lifted away from the pins 24 and removed from the refrigerator.

When the freezing trays are not required,.they

erator, other applications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. I do not, therefore, desire my invention to be limited to the particular construction shown and described and I intend in the appended claims to cover all modifier tions within the spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An evaporator for a refrigerating machine having-a substantially vertical freezing and air cooling surface, a freezing tray having a vertical side wall adapted to engage said freezing surface, and interengaging elements on said tray and on said evaporator adjacent the ends of said tray may be removed from their positions on the pins 24, whereupon the free circulationof air over the walls of the evaporator is unimpeded since it is necessary to provide no additional shelf or other structure which will restrict the circulation of air. This arrangement is of particular advantage when freezing is not required and when it is desired to operate the refrigerator at higher temperatures.

While 1 have illustrated and described my invention in connection with a household refrig-.

for detachably securing said tray in good thermal contact with said surface, whereby upon removal of said tray said freezing surface presents a substantially uninterrupted area aflording a free circulation of air over said surface.

2. An' evaporator for a refrigerating machine having a substantially vertical freezing surface, a freezing tray having a vertical side wall adapted to engage said freezing surface, interenging connectors on said evaporator and on said tray for supporting said tray and for holding said tray in said connectors on said tray and evaporator be- -ing arranged to engage one another above the center of gravity of said tray whereby said tray tends to rotate about said connectors and press the vertical side wall thereof against said freezing surface.

3. An evaporator for a refrigerating machine hav a substantially vertical freezing surface, a freezing tray having a vertical side wall adapted to engage said'freezim surface, and interengaging connectors on said evaporator and on said freezing tray for supporting said tray and for holding said tray in good thermal contact with said freezing surface, the side wall of said tray adjacent said freezing" surface having a portion near the bottom ther f spaced from said freezing surface whereby a prying tool may be inserted between said surface and said trayand operated to break a frozen bond therebetween.

WALTER minnow. 

